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On October 3, President Trump signed an Executive Order on Protecting and Improving Medicare for Our Nation’s Seniors (EO), directing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop various proposals to “protect and improve the Medicare” program as an alternative to the Medicare for All Act.

The EO aims to:

• Expand Medicare…

Last week the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced significant policy changes for Medicare Advantage (MA) and Part D programs. On April 1, 2019, CMS released the calendar year 2020 Rate Announcement and Call Letter, and on April 5, 2019, CMS release the unpublished version of a final rule revising the MA and Part D program regulations for 2020 and 2021 (scheduled to be published April 16, 2019). These documents include many important policy changes for MA plans—including opportunities to offer broadened supplemental benefits packages and expanded telehealth services.

Supplemental Benefits for the Chronically Ill

Traditionally, CMS has interpreted section 1853(a) of the Social Security Act to allow MA plans to offer supplemental benefits (items or services not covered by original Medicare) when they are “primarily health related,” offered uniformly to all enrollees, and result in the MA plan incurring a non-zero direct medical cost. “Primarily health related” means an item or service that is “used to diagnose, compensate for physical impairments, acts to ameliorate the functional/psychological impact of injuries or health conditions, or reduces avoidable emergency and healthcare utilization.” For 2019, CMS introduced new flexibility into the uniformity requirement by allowing MA plans to offer supplemental benefits to some—but not all—vulnerable enrollees.
Continue Reading Medicare Advantage plans to offer expanded supplemental benefits and telehealth services

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently proposed a rule to allow Medicare Advantage plans to expand telehealth benefit coverage. (See alert for more detail) This proposed rule implements the statutory provisions in section 50323 the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018. What you might not know, however, is that the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 is only one of many legislative vehicles by which advocates for telehealth expansion have been able to move the needle definitively in their favor during this session of Congress.

Over the past two years, Congress has shown its support for the utilization of telehealth by introducing forty-one bills that, if passed, would require Medicare to reimburse providers for their use of telehealth to treat numerous health conditions such as stroke diagnosis, mental health, chronic care management and opioid addiction treatment. Of note, the Creating High-Quality Results and Outcomes Necessary to Improve Chronic (CHRONIC) Care Act of 2017 was the predecessor bill that passed out of the Senate in September of 2017 and became law on February 9, 2018 as a part of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018.
Continue Reading Government Affairs – The Progress of Telehealth Bills in Congress